Remember We Are Together
by Leafpuff
Summary: "I guess I'll walk back and forth through hellfire for you, knowing my love for you will help me get through, this, all."- A mad crush for Lord N on Whi-Two's side, and the heartbreakingly complicated Corruptedshipping pair.
1. New Pain

A/N: A one-shot for now, might be turned into a long-chaptered fic soon if you guys like it~ ❤

* * *

 **Remember We Are Together**

"And now, for our choral competition, our next participant will be, our new transfee student, Whi-Two!" The anchor smiles all the way to the very end of the announcement, and walks behind the curtains, as Whi-Two arrives center-stage.

"Hey." She whispers, and even though she'd expected it, she's slightly surprised at how the sound of her voice has elevated because of the speakers. She smiles a little as she adjusts the mike, and takes it from the stand, to her mouth.

"I guess, I'll start then." She hears cheers of approval from the crowd, mostly from her female friends and her teachers, and finds her heart lifting, so that even as her legs feel like they are about to give away, she continues, softly;

"This song has been written by me, and it's for a special person out there, who I haven't got to meet, in some time."

She takes a deep breathe, as she sees the audience watch her with anticipation.

'Breathe in, breathe out. You can do this, Whi-Two!'

"I used to walk alone."

"And then you came,"

"gave a smile."

"Lit up the world."

Even as she sings this, she can feel the words vibrating in her mind, she feels like, no she knows, that this is what she wants to be. She wants to be free, be able to cry, for whoever she wanted, love whoever she wanted.

"I'll be that girl,"

"you want me to be."

"All for you,"

"for our destiny."

She searches for Lack-Two in the crowd, fearing his reaction, scared that he might think this song was made for him. And if he did, she didn't even want to think about the endless bouts of flirting and fleeing it might bring.

And even so...

'Lord N.' It hurt her. Being without him heart her, wondering if her Lord didn't care about him hurt her, to no ends.

"And I know I seem devoted but please don't take it lightly,"

"because the moment you arrive know I'll be yours entirely."

She spots Lack-Two, and is surprised that it took her so long, given the fact that he's been sitting directly in the front row. She freezes for a second, as their gazes meet.

She feels the back of her neck warm up instantly, and turns away, only to be caught by his eyes another time. He gives her a smile, and for once, for sure, she knows that he's reading what's inside her, and it only strengthens her wariness and doubt, about him being, being a detective who was on her case...

"Our hands will meet, our worlds will be there,"

"and it'll be great knowing that I'm not just a spare."

But, b-but she'd made sure the words in the song would not distinguish as her love for Lord N, it was as ordinary as she could make it be.

"I don't care what you did, what you do, what you are."

"If only you knew how much I love you."

"If only you knew I'd go through all of these things for you."

She can feel the corners of her eyes get wet. It's a wonder she can still sing, what with all the clenching and unclenching her stomach is experiencing, but she does, she sings her heart out, her feelings out.

"Because to me, you're heaven,"

"disguised as fire, but not for long."

She can't be stopped.

"I guess I'll walk back and forth through hellfire for you,"

"knowing my love for you will help me get through, this, all."

She will fight, because that's what Love's all about.

"Love knows no bounds,"

"I'd do anything you want me to,"

"if you told me to do~"

The tears come readily as she recites the most truthful verse of the song.

Even if it meant fooling a police who was on her tracks, be it so, he would never be able to incriminate her, she might just be a grunt, but...

She was in it for love.

She looks at Lack-Two again as she finishes, sees him crossing his arms and looking, slightly, worried.

She waves at the crowd, smiling through her tears.

~L~

Lack-Two unfolds his arms as soon as he sees Whi-Two walk backstage, most probably going to her room to take a break from all this, he thinks.

'Yandere, huh? Well, she's not far from it.'

Lack-Two's lips turn up slightly, as he remembers how Whi-Two was coyly taking glimpses in his direction, all through the song, as if scared he might decode it.

And well, he had.

'Whi-Two, silly girl. I'm literally laughing on the inside right now. That song was so plain, it occurred to you that most people wouldn't see it, but it was made simple.'

'Verses, there were gaps left in them, gaps full of meaning, where words could be placed. Therefore, it was a lot more simple than it ought to be.'

He takes out a leather notebook, and starts taking notes in it, tuning out the conversations of girls around him about whether or not she was singing about Lack-Two.

Uh, he wished it were so. Would make his job a whole lot more easier...

"Let me see..." He muses in a low voice, as he jots down some of the more relevant lyrics that had captured his interest.

Even when written down quickly at such a high speed, his handwriting is still neat and tiny, and the letters are perfectly straight.

'Heaven, disguised as fire.'

'I walked alone.'

'... I don't care what you did.'

No doubt it, his theory was right, and proven to the point.

He's slightly relieved, because she still hadn't gone psychotic to the point of no return or something, for now, it was just love.

But, he wondered, if she practically would do anything for N.

That manipulative jerk, he could be dangerous for her.

He sits still for a moment, debating on whether he should follow Whi-Two, or not.

And at the end he does, and he's fast about it.

Because only he could save her from the depths of this unhealthy relationship she had with a villain. She needs to see the consequences of worshipping such a man.

He'll mak her see through N, and to all the terrible deeds he'd done in the past.

'Please, Whi-Two, be safe. I want you to be safe.'

 **La Fin~**


	2. Observations

After a minute of running, Lack-Two slows his pace down a little, knowing that Whi-Two had probably stopped running by now, too.

As he walks, he thinks of the various grunts tha he'd gotten used to tracking down, most, if not all of them, had similar mindsets.

That they would follow their leader, no matter what the world brought down upon them.

It's just that, this time, that mentality was there for a different reason altogether. The most hateful reason of all. A blind trust for someone who she had loved but not seen for two whole years.

Two years wasn't really that long of a time, but for lovers, even a day was an eternity.

It was surely a lot when compared to something like that.

So, she had a connection with N... Was that confirmed? No.

He'd simply been acting and judging according toi his suspicions, he might as well be prejudiced against Whi-Two for reasons he couldn't understand himself.

Yet, even still, a connection with N didn't necessarily mean she had a connection with Team Plasma. It could as well be an obsession with N. But it increases the _chances_ of having the life of a Plasma member.

The probability of being a Team Plasma member, is thus increased by twenty five.

He stops as he rounds a corner, and sees Whi-Two a little in front of him, sweat dripping down the back of her neck as she apprehensively makes way to her room.

It was no use. Even if he did reach for her, it would make her even more unapproachable, and, she would strengthen her guard.

And then?

He didn't think this through, did he? He stops, and lets her disappear into her room. She didn't even look back and forth to check if someone was there, and he was following her all along...

How naive.

With this carelessness, he couldn't really trust her to stay safe, safe in his terms, at least.

He stands in a corner of his hiding spot, and types up a number on his watch.

It rings once, and then a second time, oh my god he didn't have time for this, he thinks, before it finally gets picked up by Looker.

Lack-Two speaks up instantly. "Looker, arrange for surveillance cameras to be placed directly in our suspect's dorm. A girl going by the name of Whi-Two. Brunette, with locks and buns for hair, make no mistake, and be sure she's put under strict observation. For now, make do with cameras, check up her class schedules as well, where she goes, where she eats. All equipment must at least be a few feet from her, so we can see things clearly."

He exhales as he finishes, and knowing the amount of questions he was going to be receiving from the other line, adds, "Save them for later, Looker, you can identify her, can't you? Seeing as you've watched me all along."

Lack-Two gets a grunt of agreement from Looker's side, and nods, before shutting off the call.

Now, to get her away from her room.

~L~

"Go to hang out in the forest? Again?"

He smiles delightfully, his hand still protectively cradling her fingers, as he leads them to their destination.

"You know, Whi-Two..."

She jerks her head, very slightly, to his direction, and he knows he's caught her attention.

"I have to say, I'm really happy...we're becoming very good friends, after all."

She gives him a curious stare, and he notes how she relaxes a bit as she answers.

"I guess we are."

She's still wary though, and after that singing event, she can't really say she trusts him, even a bit. She had no no way of knowing though.

So, if he really wants this...

"I consider you a friend, too." She says, smiling, but being nervous all the same.

The boy's studying her actions, she's sure of it, which is why he seems so surprised with her answer.

And answers there'll be, all of them wrong, because she definitely isn't going to let any one, police-member or not, trail her and know about Lord N.

'Whi-Two will keep her Lord N's secret safe.'

She must be careful though, and act as clueless as she can when it come to Team Plasma, and their ideals. She's been stupid enough to give him too much info through the song, and increased his suspicions.

Now, she'll try to improve and do her best, for Lord N.

~L~

Looker knocks on the glass a couple of times, and when he doesn't see anyone respond, tries to open it, only to find out that it was unlocked all this time.

He grimaces as he enters the room, closing the window behind him with a click, watching as his superior does his homework.

A bunch of rolled up papers are placed in front of Lack-Two's desk, school projects, probably, and a textbook is open right in front, with several of its pages neatly bookmarked. And of course, there's Lack-Two.

Mr. Perfect is multitasking, writing with one of his hands, looking diligently at a piece of paper, while at the same time typing on the keyboard and glancing at the monitor in intervals.

It was crazy, he was surrounded by all sorts of spying equipment, worth hundreds of dollars, and he was doing his tasks at such high speeds.

Looker feels afraid to even make a sound, but he does, anyway.

"I see that you're observing our suspect..."

Truly, his superintendent had gone too far.

Insteaf of hissing like Looker'd expected him to, he smiles, keeping his gaze on the screen.

"Yeah."

'A Team Plasma uniform, right in the middle of her room.' Probability has increased by 40.

Lack-Two swivels on his chair to face Looker, much to his surprise.

"She's coming, apparently she had gone out of her room for some time, so I had plenty of opportunities to zoom in and see her belongings. And now, we'll see."

This is followed by a noise from the speaker, the both of them turn, and see Whi-Two entering her room, the door snaps shut as she closes it quickly.

Lack-Two again places his hands on his keyboard, and enlarges one of the monitors, the one recorder that was cleverly disguised and placed directly in front of her bed.

"Huh, finally~" Whi-Two runs across her room, all the way to where the recorder was (making Looker alarmed because of that), and then plops on her bed.

"That was a long day, but, it was worth it!" She giggles as she pulls out a cardboard box from under her bed, rousing Lack-Two's interest. He leans in to see it, and at the same time, Whi-Two takes out a little notepad, before shoving the box back into its place with her leg.

"So, another letter, sent! He has to reply to this one, Lord N..." She jots something down on one of its pages.

She walks over to her table, and keeps the notepad there in a drawer, before pulling out some clothes from her wardrobe.

"Okay, time to change!"

"Uh." Looker sweat-drops, and after seeing his subordinate blush madly and look away, Lack-Two quickly turns off the screen.

"She seems like an entirely different girl when alone, superintendent."

Lack-Two nods, "She's so nervous when it comes to talking to people, or accidentally revealing a bit of herself, that her feelings mostly come out when she's alone."

"So this is why, you wanted to see her all the time, right?"

"... Not quite." Lack-Two doesn't say anything else, and instead proceeds onto opening the screen again.

"S-sir?"

"I know how long it usually takes a girl to change, Looker." Looker blinks at him, but to his relief, by the time the monitor has opened, Whi-Two is already dressed up in her nightgown.

They both see her let down her hair, and sees how she jumps in excitement as she takes out a little book from yet another drawer.

In it are words, written in that big, childish handwriting that Lack-Two perceives as Whi-Two's.

Lack-Two arches his eyebrows, as she starts reciting the words in it in a singsong voice.

Of course. That song from before couldn't possibly be the only one.

...She had such a good voice.

She closes her eyes and holds the book to her heart, feeling the warmth flood through her body.

"Lord N, I love you so much...you adorable person, I-"

"Love you." Looker gasps, Lack-Two ignores him, still watching for what she was about to do.

And even though Whi-Two wants to remain calm, and not to get her hopes up, so that she wouldn't have to drown in self pity and sadness later on, her smile gets warmer and warmer on its own.

But, similarly, when a certain thought strikes her, a piece of her dies.

What if she was counting too much on what Lord N had said before, what if he hated her now, and never wanted to talk to her again?

Lack-Two gets even more surprised when he sees her blinking back tears.

The emotions are so unsteady.

'It's okay.' She thinks, 'Come on, Whi-Two, find something else, stop worrying please, he doesn't hate you, he'll never hate you!'

She thinks for a moment, and then kneels down to the level of her bed, and takes a doll lying beneathe it.

Looker gasps again, when ne sees the doll has green hair, amd grey eyes, and a noticeably familiar face...

N.

"Oh my god." Lack-Two ignores that, too.

Up to now, all the evidence that he'd found were things related to N: the song, memoirs, gifts that N had probably given her, lying on shelves in her room, but, for all he knew, he still couldn't be entirely sure that she was the Team Plasma member.

The dress was an exception. Everything else, those things, only meant she had an obsession for N.

And moreover, Team Plasma had at one time advertised their motives, they could easily have given away Team Plasma uniforms, same with flyers, amd other accessories that she may have, all for the sake of "Liberation". This excuse itself would be enough to get her out of any sentence, if she worked cautiously.

No, this wouldn't do, and it hardly gave him enough conviction to arrest her, he needed to dig deeper for this case.

He hears a sound, and wills himself to again concentrate om Whi-Two, the deductions could be left for later on.

'The sounds are, weird.' He thinks, as he raises his head to the screen.

He immediately regrets it.

Whi-Two was cuddling the doll that replicated N, running her hands through its hair, and pecking its face.

Lack-Two feels disgusted, and he turns, only to see his subordinate standing very still.

His eyes animated and ridiculously wide.

'Most likely isn't used to the eccentric ways of teenage girls,' Lack-Two affirms in his mind.

~L~

Lack-Two curses N, his dolls, his gifts, whatever else she'd hugged like this, as he clenches his fists.

"So, fun time she's having?" He points a glare at Looker at this.

Whi-Two takes the doll away from her face, feeling slightly awkward, but pleased with herself for coming up with an idea that could make her feel better.

'Uh, that feels weird. I really haven't brushed my lips with anything else before, teehee! I'd rather not do it again though...'

She blushes at the thought of kissing N, for real, like this.

Wait, she shouldn't be having these thoughts, he was her lord, after all.

And what will Lord N think if he knows that her Whi-Two was kissing a figure of himself?

Whi-Two won't do it again, never again, and she'll apologise to her lord for having done this.

Lack-Two exhales, as he watches her stop playing with the glop of green fur. He turns off the screen, after seeing Whi-Two prop her head down on her pillows.

He smiles softly.

'Goodnight, Whi-Two.'

After a moment, Looker opens his mouth, "You know, Lack-Two..."

"I have a feeling you're waiting for something, something that's not related to this by any means, but rather, to Whi-Two."

He looks deeply at Lack-Two, trying to see past his "comfortable" façade, and failing.

"Listen, I'm not an idiot, okay? I saw how you didn't react much, even when she took out things and fangirled over N...the one exception being when she started kissing N," he stops momentarily.

"If you really are looking forward to her outright confessing to something, I'm afraid it won't come." He ends.

Lack-Two smiles, he's been letting Looker speak all along, trying to hear his thoughts.

It wouldn't be justified if he didn't examine and listen to the opinions of his fellow accomplices first...

"It will come, Looker." He finally says, the corner of his lips upturned still.

"... And when it does, I'll be ready to kiss her like she did that puppet."

"You're joking, righ-"

Lack-Two shakes his head.

Looker sighs dejectedly, as he sees his superintendent yawn and make way to bed.

'Superintendent is crazy...'

The supervisions shall go on.

* * *

 **La douleur exquise- The heart-wrenching pain of wanting someone unattainable**


	3. Reunion

**Five days later...**

"So, we're still doing this?"

Lack-Two nods at Looker, and motions him to sit down on the chair beside, and Looker briefly glances at the monitor before doing so.

"Superintendent, anything new?"

"No," Lack-Two sighs, before continuing, "It seems that she's stopped doing that kind of thing with the doll, something that essentially told us how much she'd devoted herself into worshipping the 'King' of Plasma, which is why..."

He feels his knuckeles turning white, as he clenches them in his pockets, "She didn't continue, and I took it that she'd somehow gotten over him."

"She seemed absolutely fine during the day when I talked to her."

 _But no._

Looker stares at him inquisitively, but Lack-Two doesn't talk anymore, and instead bites his lips, as he turns back to the screen. Whi-Two is there, doing her homework, in the evening like she always does.

At these times, it's hard to find anything out of the ordinary, save for her fancies of gazing at stars, and whatnot. Speaking of which, there are brief intervals in which she gets out of her room, then returns and plays with her shrine.

But these instances are getting more remote by the day, and she seems like any other girl but...

The girl would sometimes be out for hours, and sometimes he'd worry, and maybe he'd follow her there too, except, he didn't want to risk that anymore. Making her even more suspicious, or even catching her off-guard, was the last thing he planned to do.

Then there were the most horrible times when she'd suddenly be crying in her bedroom.

Crying for a man Lack-Two wanted to destroy by any means.

"Lack-Two."

Looker's voice breaks his chain of thoughts, and Lack-Two clears his throat, when he sees Looker pale at the sight of his murderous face, and slowly changes it to a composed one, before looking back at the monitor.

"Say, Looker." He whispers, as he glimpses at Whi-Two's face, tensed up in concentration, her head bent as she tries focusing on her work. ELooker shifts on his chair, nearing his Superintendent.

"Yeah?"

"Lack-Two smiles, and now turns his head to look at him. "You think too much, it's annoying."

"If you want to ask your Superior something, you should, you know."

Looker widens his eyes in disbelief, "Sir?"

"Obviously," Lack-Two's grin fades away, and he now looks at him with mild curiosity. "Rookie or not, you're still going to work with me in this case, amd with all the suspicion I have, even if I die-" Looker stutters at this, alarmed, but Lack-Two still continues, "you need to take over my place."

"S-Superintendent, what I wanted to say was..."

"This girl, we've been watching her for quite a few days, and even though the evidence we have on her isn't that solid, I don't understand why, you haven't arrested her."

He stops and takes a deep breathe, looking at his Superior in the eye. Lack-Two waits for some time, and then gives out a sigh.

"I can't tell you that." Out of all things, Looker had to ask this.

One of the disadvantages of working within Interpol, was that you could never trust people to leave you alone when it came to working on some specific things, even if it would be better for them if they just got out of the way.

So by default, he had to con.

"I thought that was obvious." Lack-Two answers.

"You know what, subordinate? I think you'd better figure this one on your own, you need the brainwork."

Looker doesn't especially appreciate how vague his Superior's being, but to tell the truth...his Superior was always vague, and keeping things to himself. Changing the flow of conversation seemed like a better, and frankly safer, idea.

But Looker was never the one to tread carefully. He stepped in unchartered waters, and regretted it later on, bit by bit.

As if fluking was a thing he'd gotten used to.

"But, Superintendent, why did you say that you might die?" He'd made the leap.

Lack-Two shows a hint of annoyance as he answers, "Because it's apparent that the previously worshipped 'Lord' she had, is coming back. The man should know enough of me by now to do anything."

"...not that I'd let him do it."

Saying that Looker was surprised in itself would be an understatement, and judging by the way Looker was gawking, he'd probably thought he could predict Lack-Two, his Superior.

~L~

The letter almost seems unreal as Whi-Two squeezes it in her hands, her skirt swishes as she walks by, slowly, disbelievingly, and she brushes unknowingly against tree trunks, and sometimes, people.

She, she couldn't believe it. She hadn't believed it when the courier had taken out that stamped piece of paper, with her name written in front, in his hand. It was all too much.

Her face reddens, and she can't think. Even though she'd planned this for days, maybe because she thought her words would one day get to that person, the person who'd seemed so unreachable until moments before.

She needs to get to her room soon, and think. Relaxing now, here, while the letter was still fresh and unread, was out of the question.

But more than anything, she feels happy, a kind of happiness that ranked beyond interpretation, and left her confused. And, it partially helped her get her thoughts off Lack-Two.

(Of what he might do)

(Of what might happen to their friendship)

Of...

'No...no...no.'

 _'Don't think about him.'_

She couldn't go back, not when her Lord needed her, which was evident by the fact that he'd responded to her. She needed to help him, even if it meant sacrificing her life along the way.

She needed to help her Lord rebuild Team Plasma. And then her Lord would love Whi-Two forever...

By now, she doesn't even care that her eyes have glazed, and her mouth is open, her face looking so out of it it's as if she'd flown into dreamworld.

~L~

Moving his hands which were clasped behind his head, Lack-Two again elevates his upper body, just enough to for his forehead to touch the metal bar, when his transceiver rings.

Sighing, he jumps down from the workout equipment, before landing on his knees and standing up, heaving quick breathes.

But when the watch screen fades open to reveal the face of Looker, he manages to talk perfectly smoothly.

"Si-"

"Looker...you keep interrupting me, even in the very rare moments when I can actually stay alone."

"What do you want?"

Looker appears surprised, however, and is unknowingly slowly testing Lack-Two's patience, "Sir! You're in the training room, Interpol? Since when, sir?"

"..."

Sensing Lack-Two's slowly increasing annoyance, he immediately speaks up.

"N..." Lack-Two arches his eyebrows.

"You told me to keep watch on all the main stations in and out of Aspertia, for N, or even someone who happens to look like him., Looker pauses, his eyes uncharacteristically grim, "It's exactly like you said, it seemed like he came out of nowhere, but of course, no one had expected he'd come by so soon."

It had happened. Lack-Two lets out breathe, noiselessly. "Any significant change in appearence? Or...does he feel brave enough to roam around with that identity?"

"Yes, in fact, sir! Um, although it's more a nice, tiny detail than a big one, but it has made him unrecognisable enough... He's cut his hair, it isn't long and girly anymore, Superintendent! He looks handsomer too, sir, do you think Whi-Two will...?"

Lack-Two clears his throat in answer, as he tries to maintain nonchalance, keeping his gaze steady.

"I don't care..."

"What suspect B might think of A's hairstyle."

"Um..." Looker awkwardly rubs the back of his neck for a moment.

"Would...would you want to intercept N? Given he still hasn't reached the heart of the city, you might just meet N the moment he nears 'suspect B'."

"It's Whi-Two," he snaps, and is about to reprimand him for possibly the most stupid thing Looker'd said, when he speaks.

"Oh...sir, you can't really interrupt this, can you? She'll kill you for barging into her romance, I see." Lack-Two sighs, in relief that his subordinate isn't so stupid.

"Yeah..." Lack-Two says, smiling.

He exchanges a look with Looker, before returning to his initially calm expression.

"In any case, I'll be joining you to watch her over, without her knowing, obviously, and-"

"Uh, sir?

"Hmm?" Lack-Two stops when he sees Looker stare, and stutter bewildered at his side of the screen. The soft echo of a tune manages to reach Looker's ears.

"You're listening to Whi-Two's...?" The call mysteriously gets shut off, and Looker loses his view of his Superior.

"...her song." Looker finishes, confused.

~L~

Whi-Two sits, humming, as she patiently observes groups of people walking here and there, eager to pick out her Lord from among them, and run to him the moment she sighted him.

'Is...is this going to be a date?' Whi-Two bits her lips, thinking back to the invitation.

'When two people like each other, and end up planning to meet...' She gulps, and tightly closes her eyes as she hugs herself, her eyes closed.

'Ehh! Th-This is a date,' she can't wait anymore actually, she needs to know.

Will he come? Will she embarrass herself? Will he leave her?

No...she was sure he would take care of her, because-

Because, she, more than anyone, knew how kind he was.

How he laughed, smiled, even cried, all of that was drilled into her memory ever since she was young. So even as she sits in the park bench, which is thankfully less crowded than usual, she dreams of him.

So when the voice of her Lord in her dream, coincides with a voice for real, outside, she jumps.

"Rosa." He says, smiling, his tall figure a few feet from his bench. He nods at her, and opens his arms.

Then her heart delightfully skips a beat.

~L~

End of chapter

Author gives a bonus!

*Deleted lines*

'Beat the shit outta this short-hair hippy soon.' Lack-Two thinks, knowing N needed to be killed. Looker nods, obviously agreeing with Lack-Two that he needed to be killed.

(I swear I was going to be serious, I swear) HELP. ME.


	4. Change

**Boys' Dorms**

Meanwhile, Lack-Two frowns as he types in 'Interpol' on his phone, and skims through the information that's been recently updated, and registers some of the relevant bits:

 **Mysterious Deaths Leave Police Baffled**

 **Nimbasa, Unovan Interpol**

 **At Interpol, sources have admitted that they are quite...**

 **"...as to what these crimes may point to, we're still in the blue."**

"No new suspects either..." He sighs, entirely ignoring the seemingly uninteresting footage of his suspects displayed in front of him, much to Looker's surprise.

Looker bites his lips, as he sees the girl named Whi-Two start a small conversation with 'A', with her blushing steadily and stuttering a few thngs.

The two hug one last time, the man almost hurriedly, either because he wasn't used to doing that sort of thing, Looker assumes, or because he really wanted to get it over with.

Her shoulders droop when he whispers something in her ear, but she nods resignedly, anyway.

Looker now pulls his gaze away from the screen, straightening up as he watches Lack-Two, who's no doubt still straight up ignoring the screen.

Or it was too much a nuisance for him to wait through irrelevant scenes. Looker sighs.

Lack-Two scrolls down further on his phone, as drifts of information stick in his mind.

 **Serious Abductions**

 **Undella**

 **Under preliminary investigation**

Looker somehow feels uncomfortable when he sees the green haired man walk away, (without apparently) bidding farewell to the girl, who now sits on her bench, a little too calm for any of it, or for her, to be normal.

"Sir, um," he clears his throat, finding it hard to speak, and eyes his superior. "He just left her, were they supposed to be planning something, I don't know...some kind of assasination, Sir? 'Cause they want to be together? or..."

Lack-Two rolls his eyes at him, "That's undoubtedly stupid, officer."

"Sorry."

And only now does Lack-Two put his phone away in his pocket, focusing his attention only on the Whi-Two who was slowly walking back in the school's direction, head bent as she inadvertently watches the ground.

"Young Love is only as lethal as you let it be, to be honest." Looker says, nodding sagely.

"Yes, glad to have solved that." Lack-Two mutters, an amused smile on his face.

"Anyways..." Lack-Two sighs, before continuing in a seemingly bored voice, "Has anyone else been killed yet?"

Looker's palm flies to his forehead.

"Er, Sir," his hand is still over his face, his tone coming out weary, "you know, just because some of the Interpol can't find connections, doesn't mean it's okay to want more crimes."

"That's not it..." Lack-Two puts down his headphones (from which he was admittedly listening to Whi-Two), and places them neatly beside the monitor. Looker, who'd tensed himself in hope that, had he been glared at, he'd fight back, still has to wait some time to let in the fact that Lack-Two wasn't angry.

"The deaths?" He begins again. Looker relaxes.

"Er, if it's technically just someone dying, there was one in Nimbasa, um, the circumstances were rather, peculiar...and it's still undergoing investigation, initiated by official Nimbasa Police." He looks briefly at his superior, who nods.

"Retired Inspector? Same division? Harvey?"

Looker smiles in agreement, which turns into a small grimace when he asses the fact that Lack-Two couldn't, possibly...

"He died yesterday, Sir."

Identify him, without looking at, the dead person.

"Interesting of you to know..."

Lack-Two hums out an exasperated breathe, "University life is boring sometimes, isn't it? The school work, abhorrently pre-school-ish. Rolling the dice and figuring out death probabilities helps."

Looker's eyes rise upward toward the sky.

"And I saw that."

"Anyways, _of course_ he was a target, he was one of the few who'd actually infiltrated their ranks and came out whistling, they don't just let anyone escape."

Looker slowly turns back to his initial stance, and continues awkwardly, "Inspector Harvey, sixty-seven, found dead in his own bathroom, apparently no signs of intrusion, windows and doors locked from the inside, oh and um, no trace of any wounds, or scars, or physical injury."

"Says here that the forensics decided that the symptoms perfectly match those of Gastric Ulcer, inflammation, so they made a case of...oh, nice!"

"They did it! Case identified as natural death, probably old age..." Looker ends, his voice now slightly more soft.

"...Did they have time to do an autopsy?" He straightens his neck and finds Lack-Two glancing across at him, now having turned a one-eighty on his chair.

"No." Looker answers, confused.

"Well then," his watch immediately starts buzzing, and Lack-Two glances annoyedly at the name 'P' that was displayed on his tranceiver for a while, before finishing nonchalantly, "It's a murder, and the new outfit guys did it."

"What?!" But by then Lack-Two has already jumped over his chair, walked across the room, and is currently fixing a rope around his waist, his hands grabbing the roof of the window, preparing to jump from his windowsill.

"Now? Sir, you're going find those perpetrators, right now?"

Lack-Two looks over his shoulder for a while, taking off his jacket.

"No, Whi-Two." He answers.

~L~

Personality: Changed

Lack-Two makes out a whimper as he walks to and fro in front of Whi-Two's room, and then, deciding for himself, stops.

"I'm sorry," he whispers into the receiver beside the door, his eyes almost wet.

The voice transferred through in return is almost a cry.

"L-Lack-Two? What's wrong? You're here...what is it?!"

"No, it's just...we haven't gone out in a while... And I was beginning to think you'd..." He looks guiltily down at the ground, biting his lips.

"Forgotten me. But t-that' not true right? You wouldn't do that..."

"Or was it something I said?" He cries out.

Inspite of herself, Whi-Two feels crying, "N-no! That's not it! I'll go wherever you want..."

'She's getting a bit too emotional...' He thinks.

"If it's okay with you, do you, wanna talk about it?"

"Sure!" He says, now being inherently a lot more verbal and optimistic. He puts a behind his head, smiling (apparently) nervously.

Whi-Two immediately nods, and the door is quickly opened, and Lack-Two gives her an earnest thanks as he enters.

Whi-Two's just about to close the door, but smiles when she sees him presumably seeing the view outside her window,

"Do you want to open that?~ Go on ahea-"

But by then Lack-Two had already closed the window, pulling over the blinders, having peered out to see if the situation was clear, and starts pulling a pair of latex gloves over his hands as he walks to her desk.

Her smile disappears.

The girl can only blink, and remains frozen as she watches Lack-Two meticulously cross-examine the things in her drawer.

After a moment, he offers her a glance, "Sorry, I have to do this... Are you sure you don't have the drive with you?"

Whi-Two can only stammer.

His eyes again rove over her table, and his features turn into a frown as they do.

Finding nothing of any importance whatsoever, he turns to look at her.

"Oh my, I forget," he scans her for a moment, and his hand slips from the table, "I came here on behalf of the Interpol."

He walks up to her, one hand holding up his ID, as he eyes her seriously, "Rank, Superintendent..."

He frees his hand off his gloves, returning those and the identification card back into his jeans' pocket as he did so.

"You've been charged guilty of associating with an illicit organisation, nurturing codes most likely to be used for criminal activities, and keeping important data hidden from the government."

He then sighs, "I have the warrant for immediate arrest, you have the right to remain silent, or..."

"Maybe you could explain some of this, _any_ of this..."

The girl shakes her head, and what was previously a look of extreme hurt and bewilderment, is now an undecipherable expression.

Lack-Two hides his surprise well.

"I guess you have nothing to say..." He trails off.

She looks down, locks of brown falling down beside her ears, her face hidden by the pink visor.

"I don't know..." She whispers, and then looks up at him, feeling like she's getting even more confused by the second. Or maybe the world was just turning around, and it didn't, make any sense.

But then again...

When has she ever been able to make sense of her life-wars?

"'Fight, fight'," she begins, Lack-Two throws her an inquiring look, "that's the only reason I can give you."

He continues holding her in a questioning look until she good gives, "It's code for 'get out there in the battle ground, there are cruel people out there'..."

"Not that I ever believed it, but I was too blind to believe it... and only because of a man."

"Arrest me, then."

~L~

Whi-Two looks behind her at the door, almost expecting company, and when she finds none, she looks at him.

"You're alone?"

Lack-Two looks spent.

"Do you think I'd possibly bring backup to a school? Too much havoc going around for that. Anyways..." He stands up from his half-kneeling position, where he'd been checking her hands one last time.

"...we've yet to receive confirmation about Team Plasma's reboot, and unless circumstances prove otherwise, any evidence related to it is best kept top-secret, don't you think?"

She smiles bitterly, "So you're going to arrest me, on the day of the graduation ceremony, nice(!)"

He ignores her, and taps something on his watch, before looking up at Whi-Two with a smile.

"I'm not letting you miss the graduation~" He coos, being very much like his flirtatious alter-ego.

"I've arranged it." And when she sighs, he releases her hand.

The next few words from him almost come out as a drone, "We're going at night, obviously, or the students would suspect."

He flashes her a smile, "Also, how convenient: end of the year, drama's over," he glances briefly at her, "but for now, I'm afraid you're still under my watch."

~L~

"Is there any point in asking where we're going?" She moans, and sinks even further in seat, watching lights in the school dim, and sensing Lack-Two approach from behind.

"No." He replies, playfully..

"You know..." A sound as he opens the door at the front and slips into the seat next to her, "You and me setting off, at this time of the night, in your car, people will," she gulps.

"...talk."

"And when have they ever done anything else?" Is his very blatant reply.


	5. Sentence Me

Not for the first time, Whi-Two had found herself weakening in that dimly lit interrogatory room.

Two months...

That was how long they'd bothered to keep her.

A luminescent bulb overhead flickered and light fell down upon the girl, sitting with her hands bound in the only chair in the room, not showing any signs of said-weakness, except that she was simply looking very hard at the ground, and her build was a lot thinner.

Presently the monotonous voice, one that had been droning out from a speaker at one of the corners of a vaulted, clear-white ceiling, started again;

"We are quite aware that our suspect Natural's disappearance followed after his meetup with you, and so we simply cannot acquiesce to your denials of having made any unlawful plans beforehand."

A pause.

"You've been found in possession of this chip, which contains all the data about past crimes that have concerned Unova in these two years, the ones that were caused by plasma... Quite a rare artifact, I should say, and suggestive..."

"That the lead in the act should give that Intel to Miss Rosa Levy, former Team Plasma grunt, without informing her the reason for which it was done."

The shadow that fell over the floor was enough to keep the girl's attention fixed for some time, but now she shivered and faced the camera.

"Lord N planned nothing of the sort. He wouldn't." There was just a faint hopeful glint of crystalline blue in her eyes, always the same, these two months, "And it isn't just because he knew he was being watched."

"Denials will not be of any use, " the static voice cut her off curtly, "Our malefactor has done worse things in the past." _Which Whi-Two did not believe._

"I'm sure you are aware of the coincidental accidents that have occurred as of late?" Silence, in answer to this, and the gentleman's voice started again, and each word pronounced made the girl all the more miserable, "It is a well known fact that arsenic, if dealt with technique, produces the effect of a 'natural death'. Forty reported deaths, one with a Colonel, and carried out in exactly the same way... "

"We can put two and two together, miss. The facts discovered after furthering the investigations, clearly proves that these murders benefit a certain group's motives, and this was clearly the doing of Team Plasma..." At this the girl felt a rather nasty sensation, similar to being doused with cold water.

It can't be.

She knew they couldn't have had any solid evidence to go with it, since they'd captured her.

 _But if, if they looked further, and found frightening evidence, enough to persecute Lord N..._

It didn't matter what he was.

"It was me,"

Whi-Two had exclaimed without further thought, her words clashed with the resounding silence,

"It... happened in Aspertia, didn't it? And I..."

"I did it..."

In the increasing silence, her face looked more determined than ever, though now there was a certain weariness about them...

"I did what I was taught, and did it for Lord N."

'Just believe me already.'

The interrogator's voice had for a short time ceased from coming out of the speaker.

If there was ever a time when Whi-Two could give back what she owed her lord, it was then.

So there wasn't a chance she would regret that sacrifice.

"Admitting to this crime would mean you have placed yourself for prosecution. Do you really have nothing to say?"

The interrogator was surprised again by a thorough silence, the girl seemed to have made no movement.

"Alright... for the last time."

"You seem quite aware of the situation, and considering that you know N's whereabouts, you must help us find him, and in return...

" We will remain true on our end and let you go."

"What? Stop that already."

Whi-Two felt nauseous, and a burst of pain erupted at the back of her head as she struggled to make more sense of the words.

"I... won't." She finally breathed.

"As I said, Lord N, did nothing wrong."

This proclamation from the subject mildly surprised the interrogator.

Apparently the amount of drugs injected into the her veins would have rendered Whi-Two unable to lie during the whole interrogation.

But it wouldn't work, none of it, not if she knew who he was, was quite sure.

"He can't be punished in any way!"

"Don't you want your freedom? Miss Levy?"

But Whi-Two could hear no more; a blinding pain rose in her body, sending jolts down her spine,

And then her muscles convulsed, numbed, and Whi-Two wanted to repeat something but could only mutter incoherently, the high dosage of drugs had affected her in a way which it wasn't supposed to.

And then, all at once, after saying something that sounded inconceivably like a person's name, the thinner girl fully lost consciousness.

Presently, the electronic voice began booming again, this time addressing officers who were recording the interrogation in another room, in a professional yet irate manner;

"This is an _emergency_. Cut off all transmissions!"

 **Four years ago**

 **Interpol Headquarters, Kalos**

With a slow hum, and the awakening of several thin fluorescent beams of light, the mechanism in the middle of the compartment activated itself.

In the sterile room, there ensued a faint sound, that of metal bearings attaching themselves to a young-looking boy, resting right in the centre of the mechanism.

The Inspector settled himself quietly, trying to understand and getting used to the position, incase experiments like this needed to be conducted more often.

It wasn't particularly hard to hear pieces of conversation from the scientists at the other side of the room, separated from him through a glass wall, casually making observations from the display on a monitor.

But maybe it was just him.

That would make sense, since he'd heard from his superiors before that he'd had the sensitivity of a seismometer, whether or not it was true, Lack-Two thought, he planned to make use of it.

So he heard.

Several of those balding officers were making notes on the progress, one in particular, the one in charge of making the defense suit and perfecting it to its utmost efficiency, began talking animatedly to the dark man beside him.

"The lower regions of the defense suit are made of thinner material, but with Inspector Black-Two's help, we might be able to have a sense of its adaptability."

The scientist paused, as he heard the monitor beep for a second, and the heat that was being transferred through to that mechanism was duly increased.

"We need to know whether the receptors are effective enough, whether this will enable it to change structure even in severe conditions, perhaps, even in the most harsh weather."

The lights overhead blinked threateningly and burned blue once more, the Inspector prepared himself in a way which made half the people in there wonder why he hadn't yet gotten half-mad with the pain.

The pressure inside the rectangular compartment rose, then climbed mercilessly higher, Lack-Two's younger self barely panted as a new surge of heat erupted from beneath.

The head researcher from before, possibly a new, seemed to be in mild professional panic. By now this experiment would be nothing less than excruciating.

"Sir, it's already over forty degrees, do you think we should carry-"

"Rest assured, doctor, " the Head of the Department of Technological and Weaponry Advances had a smooth voice, the dark man also happened to be Lack-Two's father.

"As long as he hasn't said anything, it's okay. And it is my belief that someone newly appointed Inspector should be given a chance to prove himself, and something like this should help him prepare for his future missions outside of Kalos."

Slowly, heat encumbered upon him and made it difficult to think, yet Lack-Two had the look of someone who'd retreated deep inside of himself, and the eyes that fell upon the sternfaced father bore a nonchalancy.

He knew as well as anyone that a few burn heals and medication would make his body fit for training again.

That mattered more than a lot of things.

Because for everything Mr. Perfect did, he had a reason, but this reason was unlike any other, shaped through years of training at the Police Academy and Interpol.

The policy was also written upon the very first police badge he'd ever gotten.

To serve and to protect.

That mattered more than a lot of things.

...

 _Memory_

 **Two months and a day ago, Aspertia City Trainers' School**

'To sacrifice for your own.'

In the glint of the setting sun, Lord N's smile looked subservient and gentle. Without a word, Whi-Two had let go of his right hand.

'Even if it's harsh, it is really one of the only ways to have a full soul. It is important to be able to conform to anything you can, even be ready to die for your ideals," He looked at her, 'Isn't that so, Whi-Two?'

Being smiled upon by that face after so long was only bittersweet, and she could only shove her own feelings down her throat by leaning away and smiling.

'I suppose that is... Is...is that why you're going, Lord N?"

When he'd said those words, she'd immediately grown aware of their impending separation, the fact that Lord N would choose to continue acting upon their ideals in the best way possible even after Plasma's surrender...

Something suddenly came upon Whi-Two and she reluctantly stepped away, he looked surprised at her for a moment, then smiled.

"I won't be going away, I promise.'

"Really?"

This time was different, she was looking straight into his eyes.

"As much as possible."

A small sound arose from her lips, something like an exhale, her shoulders relaxed as if Whi-Two had finally been able to release something.

"Lord N..."

"I will be waiting for you, then, and-"

She looked hesitantly at his hand, then grabbed it with almost surprising force.

"In the meantime, please tell me what I should do! I want to... and I'm sure I'll be able to, continue whatever it is that you started! And I'll do my best for this goal!"

"Please..." she was interrupted shortly with an abrupt hug, the sudden warmth enough to distract Whi-Two from her current train of thoughts.

"Walk away."

She almost flinched from his whisper.

"W-what, Lord N?"

His eyes met hers, as grim and grey as the current colour of the sky.

"I just need you to act like we are walking away, in opposite directions. Can you do that, Whi-Two?"

It took her the best part of a second to answer 'yes'.

PresentNot for the first time, Whi-Two had found herself weakening in that dimly lit interrogatory room.

Two months...

That was how long they'd bothered to keep her.

A luminescent bulb overhead flickered and light fell down upon the girl, sitting with her hands bound in the only chair in the room, not showing any signs of said-weakness, except that she was simply looking very hard at the ground, and her build was a lot thinner.

Presently the monotonous voice, one that had been droning out from a speaker at one of the corners of a vaulted, clear-white ceiling, started again;

"We are quite aware that our suspect Natural's disappearance followed after his meetup with you, and so we simply cannot acquiesce to your denials of having made any unlawful plans beforehand."

A pause.

"You've been found in possession of this chip, which contains all the data about past crimes that have concerned Unova in these two years, the ones that were caused by plasma... Quite a rare artifact, I should say, and suggestive..."

"That the lead in the act should give that Intel to Miss Rosa Levy, former Team Plasma grunt, without informing her the reason for which it was done."

The shadow that fell over the floor was enough to keep the girl's attention fixed for some time, but now she shivered and faced the camera.

"Lord N planned nothing of the sort. He wouldn't." There was just a faint hopeful glint of crystalline blue in her eyes, always the same, these two months, "And it isn't just because he knew he was being watched."

"Denials will not be of any use, " the static voice cut her off curtly, "Our malefactor has done worse things in the past." (Which Whi-Two did not believe)

"I'm sure you are aware of the coincidental (accidents) that have occurred as of late?" Silence, in answer to this, and the gentleman's voice started again, and each word pronounced made the girl all the more miserable, "It is a well known fact that arsenic, if dealt with technique, produces the effect of a 'natural death'. Forty reported deaths, one with a Colonel, and carried out in exactly the same way... "

"We can put two and two together, miss. The facts discovered after furthering the investigations, clearly proves that these murders benefit a certain group's motives, and this was clearly the doing of Team Plasma..." At this the girl felt a rather nasty sensation, similar to being doused with cold water.

It can't be.

She knew they couldn't have had any solid evidence to go with it, since they'd captured her.

(But if, if they looked further, and found frightening evidence, enough to persecute Lord N...)

It didn't matter what he was.

"It was me,"

Whi-Two had exclaimed without further thought, her words clashed with the resounding silence,

"It... happened in Aspertia, didn't it? And I..."

"I did it..."

In the increasing silence, her face looked more determined than ever, though now there was a certain weariness about them...

"I did what I was taught, and did it for Lord N."

'Just believe me already.'

The interrogator's voice had for a short time ceased from coming out of the speaker.

If there was ever a time when Whi-Two could give back what she owed her lord, it was then.

So there wasn't a chance she would regret that sacrifice.

"Admitting to this crime would mean you have placed yourself for prosecution. Do you really have nothing to say?"

The interrogator was surprised again by a thorough silence, the girl seemed to have made no movement.

"Alright... for the last time."

"You seem quite aware of the situation, so if you know N's whereabouts, you must help us find him, and in return...

" We will remain true on our end and let you go."

"What? Stop that already."

Whi-Two felt nauseous, and a burst of pain erupted at the back of her head as she struggled to make more sense of the words.

"I... won't." She finally breathed.

"As I said, Lord N, did nothing wrong."

This angry proclamation from the subject mildly surprised the interrogator.

Apparently the amount of drugs injected into the her veins would have rendered Whi-Two unable to lie during the whole interrogation.

But it wouldn't work, none of it, not if she knew who he was, was quite sure.

"He can't be punished in any way!"

"Don't you want your freedom? Miss Levy?"

But Whi-Two could hear no more; a blinding pain rose in her body, sending jolts down her spine,

And then her muscles convulsed, numbed, and Whi-Two wanted to repeat something but could only mutter incoherently, the high dosage of drugs had affected her in a way which it wasn't supposed to.

And then, all at once, after saying something that sounded inconceivably like a person's name, the thinner girl fully lost consciousness.

Presently, the electronic voice began booming again, this time addressing officers who were recording the interrogation in another room, in a professional yet irate manner;

"This is an emergency. Cut off all transmissions!"

Four years ago

Interpol Headquarters, Kalos

With a slow hum, and the awakening of several thin fluorescent beams of light, the mechanism in the middle of the compartment activated itself.

In the sterile room, there ensued a faint sound, that of metal bearings attaching themselves to a young-looking boy, resting right in the centre of the mechanism.

The Inspector settled himself quietly, trying to understand and getting used to the position, incase experiments like this needed to be conducted more often.

It wasn't particularly hard to hear pieces of conversation from the scientists at the other side of the room, separated from him through a glass wall, casually making observations from the display on a monitor.

But maybe it was just him.

That would make sense, since he'd heard from his superiors before that he'd had the sensitivity of a seismometer, whether or not it was true, Lack-Two thought, he planned to make use of it.

So he heard.

Several of those balding officers were making notes on the progress, one in particular, the one in charge of making the defense suit and perfecting it to its utmost efficiency, began talking animatedly to the dark man beside him.

"The lower regions of the defense suit are made of thinner material, but with Inspector Black-Two's help, we might be able to have a sense of its adaptability."

The scientist paused, as he heard the monitor beep for a second, and the heat that was being transferred through to that mechanism was duly increased.

"We need to know whether the receptors are effective enough, whether this will enable it to change structure even in severe conditions, perhaps, even in the most harsh weather."

The lights overhead blinked threateningly and burned blue once more, the Inspector prepared himself in a way which made half the people in there wonder why he hadn't yet gotten half-mad with the pain.

The pressure inside the rectangular compartment rose, then climbed mercilessly higher, Lack-Two's younger self barely panted as a new surge of heat erupted from beneath.

The head researcher from before, possibly a new, seemed to be in mild professional panic. By now this experiment would be nothing less than excruciating.

"Sir, it's already over forty degrees, do you think we should carry-"

"Rest assured, doctor, " the Head of the Department of Technological and Weaponry Advances had a smooth voice, the dark man also happened to be Lack-Two's father.

"As long as he hasn't said anything, it's okay. And it is my belief that someone newly appointed Inspector should be given a chance to prove himself, and something like this should help him prepare for his future missions outside of Kalos."

Slowly, heat encumbered upon him and made it difficult to think, yet Lack-Two had the look of someone who'd retreated deep inside of himself, and the eyes that fell upon the sternfaced father bore a nonchalancy.

He knew as well as anyone that a few burn heals and medication would make his body fit for training again.

That mattered more than a lot of things.

Because for everything Mr. Perfect did, he had a reason, but this reason was unlike any other, shaped through years of training at the Police Academy and Interpol.

The policy was also written upon the very first police badge he'd ever gotten.

To serve and to protect.

That mattered more than a lot of things.

...

Memory

Two months and a day ago, Aspertia City Trainers' School

'To sacrifice for your own.'

In the glint of the setting sun, Lord N's smile looked subservient and gentle. Without a word, Whi-Two had let go of his right hand.

'Even if it's harsh, it is really one of the only ways to have a full soul. It is important to be able to conform to anything you can, even be ready to die for your ideals," He looked at her, 'Isn't that so, Whi-Two?'

Being smiled upon by that face after so long was only bittersweet, and she could only shove her own feelings down her throat by leaning away and smiling.

'I suppose that is... Is...is that why you're going, Lord N?"

When he'd said those words, she'd immediately grown aware of their impending separation, the fact that Lord N would choose to continue acting upon their ideals in the best way possible even after Plasma's surrender...

Something suddenly came upon Whi-Two and she reluctantly stepped away, he looked surprised at her for a moment, then smiled.

"I won't be going away, I promise.'

"Really?"

This time was different, she was looking straight into his eyes.

"As much as possible."

A small sound arose from her lips, something like an exhale, her shoulders relaxed as if Whi-Two had finally been able to release something.

"Lord N..."

"I will be waiting for you, then, and-"

She looked hesitantly at his hand, then grabbed it with almost surprising force.

"In the meantime, please tell me what I should do! I want to... and I'm sure I'll be able to, continue whatever it is that you started! And I'll do my best for this goal!"

"Please..." she was interrupted shortly with an abrupt hug, the sudden warmth enough to distract Whi-Two from her current train of thoughts.

"Walk away."

She almost flinched from his whisper.

"W-what, Lord N?"

His eyes met hers, as grim and grey as the current colour of the sky.

"I just need you to act like we are walking away, in opposite directions. Can you do that, Whi-Two?"

It took her the best part of a second to answer 'yes'.

Present

The last of Lord N's words rang more clearly in Whi-Two's mind than ever, reminding her of the one promise she'd made to him that she hadn't even been able to fulfill. These words from him were carved so deeply in her mind that they could never be gotten rid of, not even with Interpol's vast collection of drugs.

Whi-Two suddenly felt a cold floor underneath her, apart from the slight constrictions in her chest.

Wait, she'd lost consciousness, hadn't she?

"You've been asleep too long," this voice was different, human, "I can't see how they tolerated all this for the past month."

Her eyes fell open suddenly, the blurred surroundings came into view as she barely sat up, along with the shape of a familiar figure walking towards her, leaning down almost indifferently.

This wasn't what she wanted.

"Why are you here?'

It stopped, but there was certainly some time before sound came up Lack-Two's lips.

"I came here to save you," he looked away as if he couldn't even believe what he was saying, then looked back at her, suddenly turning quiet.

Something, something that Whi-Two wasn't even sure of, made tears trickle in her eyes.

"Why?" Her voice was small, croaky from lack of use.

"Why now?"

He looked at her, but didn't open his lips.

Whi-Two stood up, it was dark but she was able to see him clearly, and without knowing why, she felt another brief trickle of tears and the afterthought that she was going to have to hide them;

"Why are you acting this way to me now? Why aren't you saying anything?"

Her anger was so unexpected she even forgot to be afraid of him.

"Say something already," she said sharply, once again, and then looked sideways at the ground.

"Why-"

Her wrist had suddenly been grasped, with the same kind of brute force that could be expected from an experienced police officer.

"You reap what you sow," his glare was hard, but he slowly released her hand.

"Any life is better than handing yourself in and rotting in jail, but don't be so stupid that you can't understand even that."

"Don't treat me like an idiot," this had come out of the usually timid Whi-Two without forethought.

"Don't act like one, then."

They were suddenly interrupted by a sound, something hinted Lack-Two that the open door of their compartment would close automatically, and therefore they'd better hurry.

Just when Whi-Two had grown quiet, Lack-Two had pressed his lips and held out his hand.

Although calloused, and well-worn from past fights, his palm felt surprisingly gentle.

...

Whi-Two at first struggled, but soon got used to the fast, panicky phase in which things were going.

She may not have done any crimes but guilt was still eating her away with every step.

Due to the induced blackout, the way out of the solitary was devoid of any lighting. The passages grew wider as the way climbed further and further away from the solitary, that is, the jail wing with excessive security. For the girl, everything was a confused blur, it seemed as if it were taken from something like a movie.

But it helped that, even in this consistent maze of dark hallways, Lack-Two had maneuvered his way through quickly and easily. Though it made it constantly hard for her to keep up.

It could be easily distinguished which part the office was, the floor became a glossy marble, carpets outlined the way fancily to more departments.

'The International Police Bureau, huh?'

It was then that it occurred to Whi-Two that there weren't any interpol officers monitoring this area right now, even though she'd been put under such extensive security for the past few days.

When she worded this softly to Lack-Two, he slowed down surprisingly, but frowned at her in a way that suggested she was crazy.

"Do you even know what time it is?"

"Huh?" 'There was that pressing of the lips again...

"Just hurry up already."

And with that he turned away, jogging ahead with that same sense of alertness reverberating about him...

"There should be security guards all over the place!"

His look made her pause, and Whi-Two shrunk a little after her exclamation.

"It's just... I don't get it..."

A flick.

A circle of light lit up at exactly that moment around her, Whi-Two didn't like admitting to herself that she'd just stepped back in shock as she saw Lack-Two handle a phone that wss conjuring flashlight.

The space that was illuminated around them consisted of a part of the velvet-covered corridor, furnished handles from doors leading to offices of no-doubt recognised people, and yet even with that sudden admission of light, not a single reaction could be detected from anyone or anything around them.

Or at least not yet.

He slid the phone back into his pocket...

"What, what was that about?"

"Make sure to memorise the way clearly from here on." He said, ignoring her without the least bit difference, and with that said, he turned away same as ever.

Whi-Two, weary already from the whole building, and after having subjected another glance to it, became even more nervous and wondered whether it had any effect on Lack-Two either way.

For some reason, the slight urgency which had been entailed in Lack-Two's expression made her think that might be the case.

He took her around the end of the hallway, steering through passage after passage as if it was no big deal, that he'd been rescuing people from Interpol jail his entire life.

After an unceremonious time of dragging her hand however, Lack-Two had to stop.

"What now?"

"We can't continue like this if you move like a tortoise," he explained, much to her forbearance, and shot her a glance when she couldn't seem to keep on with the confusing assembly of glass doors.

The latter could hardly move, even though she tried her best, those sleep inducing drugs seemed to be kicking in and the ones from before gave her legs a stabbing pain.

"Any moment now," he repeated, his look suddenly furious, "this blackout will cease and cameras will activate all around the area, alerting any officers around Nimbasa that an intruder has stepped in. And of your escape."

For a miniscule moment, Whi-Two bit her lips in her effort.

"Do you want that to happen?"

For another miniscule of a moment, something liquid glinted in her eyes, but not for the reason he thought it to be.

She stopped supporting against the wall and seemed to squeeze into the place, the circulating glass door swung again behind her as she straightened again and whispered, 'no'.

...

It was only when they'd reached another intersection, one which lead to several more confusing rooms, that Whi-Two was pulled back in the midst of the running. After a brief second, Lack-Two handed her his navy blue jacket with a complacent attitude.

"Take it."

"W-why?"

"You'll need it for later."

Whi-Two hadn't been able to ask much else, however, as the lights in the room started lighting up one after the other. And then, almost as if on cue, alarms began blaring angrily from unseen places.

By now it should be clear for everyone in the vicinity to have heard the alarms and for them to understand what was going on, no matter the reason for which they hadn't understood before.

Whi-Two's eyes grew wide as she froze against the wall, those sounds continued to ripple throughout with alarming intensity..

' _It was a mistake to think this would be of any use after all'._

Still, Lack-Two's voice suddenly reached her, a voice consistent.

"Hide for cover right now, there's no use for this if they see you on the visuals."

Cameras will activate all around the area, and everyone will know that an intruder has stepped in.'

She sighed, and followed him nervously as he made his way into another office, and then placed back a calendar which had fallen off from its precariously dangling position over a desk.

"I'm coming!" She exclaimed when looked at, and in a few minutes they were on the other side of the office, in that poorly lit area they were quite secure from being caught on footage.

Bu Whi-Two would gladly have paid that price rather than face her current situation, this situation of being trapped with Lack-Two in that small corner.

Her eyes met his, but he gladly remained quiet.

As the lights kept flicking around the place, Whi-Two fidgeted nervously, but saw that Lack-Two had only turned around once to detect somesuch sound of footsteps.

It did occur to her that her cheeks were very inflamed, and that one of his hands was placed as a support against her shoulder.

"Um, Lack-Two, stop... blocking me."

"Only if you want to be caught a _second_ time."

To Whi-Two's absolute nightmare she realised that he was actually being serious, and unfortunately a number of voices arose just then, increasing both their alarm by about ten times, and all of Lack-Two's concentration was pulled over to that source.

A sliver of the view outside showed several security guards walking around one of the office cubicles, but their gaits were awkward and they carried no tasers.

The military boots strolling back and forth was enough for Lack-Two to retreat to his decision.

His hands slid off and his remark was short.

"Stay here."

 _'Oh hell oh hell oh hell.'_

"Wait!" She half-whispered, half-cried, "what are you doing?!"

Lack-Two must have figured something out since he was already walking away, leaving the girl absolutely confused as she barely slid down against the wall.

...

The sight of the guards made Lack-Two look before him and shortly organise the details in his head.

 _It was his duty to protect the HQ and their top-secret intel, same as it was his duty to protect Whi-Two. And in circumspect, no doubt these two were currently related._

Dressing up half-assedly to disguise as security officers, how careless would these Plasma people have to be to think they could get away with this.

Lack-Two heard the soft tread of footsteps come closer, amplified in the more or less empty lobby, and then there was the faintest sign of a black uniform...

There were only two others in this pack, it seemed, and they must be quick seeing as they'd come careening before Lack-Two could finished his third punch.

They stopped utterly for a moment as they saw Lack-Two, and saw their limp ally on the floor.

One of them arrived first, deftly sliding over the marbled floor, and was met with a swift kick to the crotch. He vainly clutched over his knees and fell unconscious before him. The latter came up behind unawares and for a moment Lack-Two was held at gunpoint, but Lack-Two twisted his opponent's arm and turned him around. He defended against the gun with an arm, then used its butt end to slam it hard over the opponent's head.

Even though he'd trained himself to zone out any emotions during battle, Lack-Two couldn't help but vainly wonder, as he saw this apparent guard fall freely and reveal several markings reminiscent of Plasma's engraving, why the hell they would be stupid enough to be here, seeing as he himself hadn't had access to the important files... unless, unless of course, they'd come here for Whi-Two.

Lack-Two had still sensed one of the persons behind him getting up, but his reaction was too slow from the string of thoughts and suddenly the assailant had charged straightforward and knocked him against a wall, then clasped his strong and tight fingers into fists...

...

Had this been a different situation, Whi-Two would have compulsively rung up her mother, but, whatwith her mom being under strict watch in a place she didn't even know of, that matter of them having conversation could hardly be put into practice.

She tried to restrain her curiosity, she really did, but minutes had gone by and it was only a matter of time before she started fearing what would actually happen to them both, and therefore she couldn't help but look around for him.

Accountably, she'd almost gotten lost a few times before coming to the right place, but when she did get to it the sight that she met was so shocking that she could have fallen a few times more.

She'd come back to see a grappled security guard. Lack-Two met her with a completely indifferent expression, which started conveying annoyance the moment she cried and stepped back.

"I told you to stay there, didn't I?" He released him. That poor man was still groaning.

"B-but I..." Whi-Two gulped. It occured to her that she didn't exactly know what to say at this point.

This semi-sadistic guy was likely to beat up security guards for just doing their job.

Whi-Two faltered, but advanced a little and saw that two people had been tied back to back in a corner, all dressed similarly in black clothing. When she glanced back at him, her voice shakily broke into the silence.

"Who... who are they?"

His attitude relaxed as he stood up.

"You really don't know."

She shook her head mutely, and Lack-Two only responded by shaking his head at her.

It was only then that she noticed the marked wrists of those guards... the familiar engraving thrown in stark relief among those unknown faces...

Whi-Two had felt him watching her from a close enough distance, enough for her to go slightly pink under the cool gaze.

"Um... what?"

"Look behind you."

Lack-Two had held her gaze in too strong of a manner, she coincidentally felt something come up behind her and was immediately filled with alarm.

Whi-Two jumped away but did not remember having punched this unwarranted force, though her hands were actually still hurting..

The grey-coat clad man had fallen to the ground with a resounding thud, more and more guilty feelings overwhelmed Whi-Two as she saw the hem of his coat flop a little before landing on the floor.

She couldn't believe what she had just done.

But the worst nightmare still hadn't come until Lack-Two had opened his lips, with vague but distinct annoyance.

"This is why I'd told you to stay."

"Wh-"

"You just knocked off my subordinate."

Whi-Two stared, but eventually cast an apologetic glance at the body, and now the reality of it seemed to be keeping up with her.

"What are we going to do with him?!" She rubbed her temple in search of an idea, "S-Should I... help you m-move him?" Even the thought of this subordinate's weight was clearly enough for her to break into a fine sweat, but Lack-Two wasn't listening. He went forward and appeared to be fiddling with some switch in the upper corner of a wall.

Whi-Two ran over and caught his hand, her eyes were unusually bright with fear, "What are you doing?! If we don't hurry up, they might get him!... As well as us!"

His were stubbornly unconcerned as he drew away his arm, "If you feel so much pity for the old man then stay here, get arrested." She couldn't believe that he was actually walking away.

"What do I care."

"But it's not about that! It's..." But they could never find out what it was about, as midway in his walk the boy stopped, and this time they could both hear the brisk running and shouts, each sound drowning the other as if they were coming from a large party of people.

The sudden movement that Whi-Two had caught had something to do with the ceiling, and sadly, in a just few seconds... they were interrupted by a range of sprinklers.

Showers and showers of water enveloped them as she heard cries of surprise and footfalls from the distance.

Little did she know that half of their pursuers had hydroplaned against the water and fallen to the ground.

Whi-Two stopped in her way and felt the combined shrill of fire and security alarms ring their way into the distance, over the sound of spitting rain.

Bur she was no longer feeling wet.

Rain was pouring all around the office level of Interpol and yet the only thing she felt now was the thin trickle of water down her forehead, she cleared the water from her eyelids and slowly her gaze slid upto Lack-Two's.

The soft pressure upon her shoulders was the weight of the jacket he'd held over them, their shoulders were now undoubtedly close, and Lack-Two was a lot more wet but he seemed to not care, and frowned at her as if to say, 'Told you so, Whi-Two.'

The End... of this chapter

\- ^-^ hiyaaa sorry for this extra long wait! Usually I would think I could think I could compensate for this by making a chapter a wee bit longer and also annoy every fic critique in this world with page-long excuses.

But, to be honest, all I want to say right now is-

Thank You Very Much for taking the time to read this~

Also, have a nice day 3


	6. Train rides and Champagne

**Train rides and Champagne**

 **Chapter Six**

A sliver of light reflected over steep-metal steps coming out of a barely distinguishable side of the bureau, and even as the effect of sunlight contrasted so deeply with the darkness beforehand, it gave Whi-Two the faint but hopeful impression of _happiness_ , that today, maybe everything was gonna go _alright_.

Or that was what Whi-Two'd so foolishly thought.

Miss Levy was currently damn tired, this guy he didn't know, okay, she reluctantly admitted, she _knew_ , seemed to be getting more distant as time went, both deliberately and physically. With every step she looked curiously at him from behind, with the occasional glance away so she wouldn't get caught, and found it even more disbelieving than before.

Lack-Two'd goddamn saved her. The guy whose job it was to drag people by their handcuffs to police stations and mess no more with their lives other than that, had taken up a case too personally, certainly, for his own job's good.

Whi-Two finally took a little breath to look away and calm and distract herself, then muttered something about hidden surveillance cameras, but hell if she remembered what she'd said despite herself, because Lack-Two'd smothered her with a glance before she could continue.

And now they trudged among foliage and narrow, desolate alleyways in awkward silence.

Seriously? Was no one going to come after her? She understood that it was most likely due to them taking some isolated route which must be barely frequented by people, but she was so on-edge with Lack-Two around that it felt like her stomach might actually retch and flip and no, she'd rather be poisoned in jail, thanks. With extra dosage.

In order to avoid the flippin' silence, Whi-Two spoke. "Where are you making us go, anyway?"

And she knew then that it was not a good jab at making idle conversation, since he actually used her name, in full, for the first time since they'd met up, and it was fairly weird.

"...I wonder why you're following me if you're so suspicious."

And sometime after that she'd talked no more.

The weather had actually been pleasant, despite their-uh- circumstances, but it was no longer all sunshine and azure skies when Lack-Two had turned and muttered whether she would stop asking, that she was already slow enough as it was.

"It's not that..." She'd said, "but do you have ideas of what you're going to do right now?" Because if she had been in his position, she certainly wouldn't know what to deal with, not with the whirring of helicopter-blades and wails of police-sirens that could be heard emanating every half-minute in that busy strange city.

"Not that I um- Not that I'm not greatful." His head swivelled but the Plasma had to meet up with pin-drop silence.

And that was how Lack-Two had avoided her comments by wearing headphones and the girl had become too afraid and embarassed to speak after that.

Currently, it was beginning to get busier as they came upon wider paved streets, cars swooshing by with their reflective windows drawn up, a steady stream of vehicles jotting down the two-way streets beside solid calcined lime and concrete, and the two ending up mixing in with the crowd on the pavement.

Suddenly, a phone buzzed from somewhere, and Whi-Two tried her best to ignore it as Lack-Two's thumb slid over its skin.

"Hello." Was he talking to someone? Right... _now_?

"... Same to you." She didn't get the rest of it, so she tried not to overhear but the other line that was still awfully clear over the beeping of cars had mentioned 'Interpol' and it wrapped around her head that this might be the poor flappy-coat-guy from there, but no, he couldn't be this bossy.

Now she really did have no way of knowing whether Detective Looker was alright.

"Tell the superiors yourself if you want to, it's not like I'm on duty..." Meanwhile Lack-Two was being a born actor. "If it's a hijack you're talking about, then I'm sure those plasmas took her away."

Whi-Two could positively understand this, she tried not to gulp, and so suspected that her heartrate was so loud now that it had kind of climbed over the typical boombox-music from the too-loud parties she never went to.

Still, pressing that blame of hers upon Plasmas... Whi-Two could never and would never agree with it.

They might be evil but they hadn't broken in to take her, that would be weird, since she hadn't even seen them before, let alone have some sort of connection with them.

"Hey... Inspector." She saw him actually look at her, and felt a brief spite of courage rousing in her for that second. "What?"

"I really don't care why or how you did it..." She started, "but... that ...pressing that blame upon them, don't you think it's kind of wrong?"

He gave her a peculiar look, but then answered, "Well... since you really don't know anything about it..." He paused.

"What?" She asked.

"Shut up..."

"We're coming up in more crowded areas, so don't dare make eye ccontact with people or worse, end up lost." He surprised her when he took out a white surgical mask abruptly from his pocket, and harshly attached the string over her ears, surprising her again once his fingers wrapped around her wrist just so she wouldn't get lost and land them both in trouble, before guiding them out of the dense, thickening crowd. With a speed that almost gave the smaller motion sickness.

And now Whi-Two watched the shiny metallic monstrosity of a subway before her, with clusters of people gathering around it and rolling their suitcases around the floor, some checking their tickets with which they'd be able to tour the day with, while the other, busier ones glanced at their watches and waited aloofly for the departure time.

Whi-Two'd only found that she'd lost herself in its midst once she took her eyes off the sight and looked around for Lack-Two, and had eventually found herself bartered with other passengers while having no trace of that Inspector.

Though her small build had allowed her to wade in and out of tight snakelike queues of people, she still saw no sign of him nor any indication of which section she was in, the brunette was almost giving up, when someone had strolled up coolly behind her, completely at ease with the crowds.

"What are you doing?" The voice spoke.

Whi-Two turned around, and suddenly saw the brunette, regarding her cynically.

"You're really going to make us late. Just get in already."

Not only did a third of the people packed in the station enter that sub, only a few had got out. Whi-Two had bent her head to adjust the mask around her head, where the sensitive part of her ears were just turning slightly red, and only then looked up to find that their compartment was almost packed, a result of the reasons mentioned above.

She saw Lack-Two get into a seat before her, and inexplicably, her stomach almost curled in longing.

But... That was the end of that.

At present, they were both basically strangers, nothing more, nothing less. And it'd be pitiful of her to think it any other way. So she got into a seat behind, and tried not to think too much about anything, as she tilted her head slowly and saw the scenery unfolding itself behind that glass, and as the subway slowly crawled out of the tunnel and into the bright sunlight of July.

~V~

They would be moving forward, but Whi-Two was suddenly surprised at the silence that had rippled across their wood-panelled compartment, and then at once, a group of grim, suited people strode across the linoleum floors while flicking their IDs and displaying them to the people who were nearly stoned to silence, the door had been opened quite quickly and there were mysterious thumps sounding from its back.

"Has anyone come across this girl? Rosa Levy, she's by all means a national threat-" Whi-Two couldn't hear anymore because the sight of it nearly made her freeze.

It was her. Her in the Plasma uniform.

She tilted her head down, and blinked abruptly at finding similar black markings etched over paling skin. Suddenly glowing. She tried to rub it away, desperately.

It was branded.

"Excuse me," The voice rang clearly across the room, disrupting what had previously been a steady silence.

"I mean, isn't that obvious. She just escaped your so-called high-security confines. She _must_ be a good threat. I'm sure half the country already knows about her." She saw Lack-Two bite his plump, lower lip. But it wasn't out of worry.

He was clearly resisting a smile. But then he parted his lips, teasingly, "Her crimes were really first rate, you know, and you just let someone like that go..."

"A steady flow of murders, decapitation, manipulating organs, collecting cryptid information for _blackmail..._ And I can't even trust you to deal with her."

"Though I _might_ have seen her."

Suddenly, one of the Interpol officers rubbed against his shoulder and passed him, before taking the stunned brunette by the hand and throwing her to the others, another emotionless agent looked over at Lack-Two, who barely shrugged.

"Cut her, fry her, stem her, boil her in a stew, do whatever you want."

A long row of sodium lights shining along a bridge, with water and a long stretch of sand spreading out underneath it, and the flickering light and abrupt voices had made the brunette come out of her sleep, and now she crinked open her eyelids and contemplated about how what she'd been shaken out of had been a dream...

Her sigh was way too long and full of relief as she clasped herself back in the chair. Whi-Two intented to doze off for a few hours more, since at least this dream hadn't been as bad as the rest.

"Care to save a seat for the elderly?"

The girl shook herself up from her rest, eyeing the sudden appearance of the gentlewoman with briefly surprised eyes, and then immediately followed with her instinct to climb out of her seat. The tall, slightly corpulent woman saw the embarrassed brunette as she subconsciously fixed her sweater, suddenly bowing and muttering an apology.

"What are you apologising for, sweetie?"

" Sorry', she said again, before moving out of the way and looking round for another empty place, the train shuddered along its path, which meant the brunette had to stay still a little to steady herself, before moving again.

Then she sighed, having followed her gaze to the only remaining navy blue draped seat.

Why shouldn't she have known.

The only available space was beside Lack-Two, bless it, he must've looked so unapproachable with his utter silence that he'd made both women and men run in the other direction, not that she _wouldn't_ , but there wasn't much of a choice...

She approached him with an unperturbed expression across her mouth, only sending him a side-glance whence she curled her fingers around the pole beside his seat, muttering, "If you're wondering, by the way... It wasn't my purpose to come next to you."

Lack-Two'd only just looked at her, but in that one glance he'd managed to convey everything he felt about _that_ , and a strange flicker passed by his eyes quite momentarily that Whi-Two didn't want to know about, and thus looked away from, rendering the thought in her head that their feeling was now basically mutual.

It was somehow tough to recover from glares.

But goodness, as the train hustled between stops, the constant momement of suited people in and out of the train meant that Whi-Two was having to try her best not to get _shoved_ , much less into Lack-Two.

As the girl continued looking at the crowd inquisitively so that no future accidents may occur, she didn't notice the well-groomed man nearby who'd just made his suitcase fall off a rack, leading to a flurry of things that Whi-Two couldn't stop even if she _hadn't_ moved away to make space for another passanger.

A little stumbling, leading to more stumbling, leading a confused Whi-Two to fall straight into a seat when she'd reached for the thin stands, which ended up being Lack-Two's lap, and a man who'd collapsed to the ground with the force of a bullet.

Whi-Two climbed up again, not yet aware of what she'd just fallen into.

"Um, are you okay? She asked, reaching to help the man, who seemed frightened by the prospect of the somehow small brunette and immediately leapt away, nursing his broken around.

Whi-Two suspected his bone had crunched underneath the stress when he fell. Oh god.

"S-sir, are you okay Sir?" He didn't even let her come near, and shuddered and leapt away again so fast he almost twisted his feet, leaving the girl almost confused but utterly distressed.

"Oh no... Um Sir,"

 _Why's he running, what did I-_

"Sir please come back! And please take care of that forearm..." But before she could continue, he'd disappeared into a blur, and by then had almost certainly went away. Whi-Two sighed, slowly, not knowing what to do, and then turned around, cluelessly eyeing Lack-Two.

"I swear I hadn't even known he was there," she whispered, again looking away in the direction of said-man's departure, "... The poor Mister."

So far Whi-Two had been half-absorbed with the tetanic vibrations of their compartment, as their train glided over metal rails, and the low whistle dragging sternly in the air to signal they were about to stop, that she had in fact not noticed the thud of yet another suitcase falling nearby, at least not until a few seconds later.

The severe guilt of having knocked out a man three times her size had been the cause for which she'd run away, and almost carved herself to the door of that compartment, merely looking at the ground and not wishing for anything else. Luckily, the excitement in the car had died quickly as no one seemed to bother paying attention to something so trivial as a grown man's accident.

And now she lazily clutched the plastic handle and was just about to put it back in place, when a voice had called. It seemed, to her.

Catching sight of the woman from before had been a blessing, because even within their short encounter, Whi-Two'd sort of become familiar with her, and that glimpse had made her smile. Whi-Two barely shoved the suitcase back into a rack, before making her way there: without toppling, it seemed, since their sub had just paused at a stop.

"...No need to be such a sweetheart, dear, you're probably going to miss your stop." The dark lady had tutted for some reason, surprising the girl.

"My... stop...?"

"Why, wasn't that your boyfriend just now?" She glanced at a seat several rows away from her, and Whi-Two's heart gave a panicked jump despite itself.

"What?"

"If so, I'm sure I just saw him get up to leave."

The woman stopped when her gaze backed to Whi-Two, who'd been watching the place in the distance with an almost sad but confused expression.

Had she really made him that angry? But, couldn't that also be a good thing? She could escape from him for now and continue on her own. But... had... Had she really made him angry?

"Aren't you going to go too, young lady?"

The brunette almost looked caught off guard for a second, but then her features suddenly and conclusively drew rather clear, and the next moment Whi-Two was hurriedly giving a goodbye, whilst setting off a bit clumsily as she wished for Lack-Two to please _please_ appear within eyesight.

Lack-Two splayed his fingers as he waited for Whi-Two at the entrance, not minding as people continuously shoved past his hurt shoulder in an attempt to hustle out to the grey station, though the annoyed expression that still somehow remained on his face was understandable.

The girl hadn't actually yet caught up with him.

Lack-Two swore if it was any different he'd have left her then and there, but he just started hearing his name being uttered faintly through a crowd, and the visual of the top of Whi-Two's hoodie clambering among people, at a lower height no less, was fairly amusing.

So he waited. And yes, he waited even though his left hand had gone numb, from when he'd retracted it back in surprise and hit against hard metal as the girl briefly fell back and then levered herself from his lap.

Lack-Two couldn't bring himself to think about that.

"Whi-Two." Her head spilled around, noticing the voice being called. It dipped slightly lower as she moved and curled her hands inside her pockets, but by then, the tight mass was waddling towards the entrance and Lack-Two and yet she still didn't notice.

There came a final buzz, and the conductor had begun saying something introductory about their travel destinations. Lack-Two sighed, and couldn't really help but outstretch a hand to grab the masked girl's pale one and tug her around, letting her gaze flock over and identify him before he snapped. He saw pinpricks of pink dust around her cheeks, probably just from embarrassment, and brushed it off.

"You're practically delaying the whole schedule, " he muttered, once the girl's eyes had fluttered close, as if in disbelief.

"Hang on..." She started messing with the position of the mask, simply so she could look out the window more clearly, and once she did, her entire body absolutely stiffened, just so she wouldn't take her eyes off.

"This..." Her voice was almost inaudibly low, "Y-you actually live... here?"

Admittedly, it was a rare sight as the sea was just a few feet from the station, streches of sand going on for meters and meters, its frothy waves hurling themselves at the bay, only to retreat calmly moments later, laying scattered seashells offshore as it did.

And the air hummed with sounds of splashing water forming its backdrop, carrying with it a whiff of salty air.

And all of these things completely revealed themselves to Whi-Two as their compartment doors slowly slid open, with an added clink.

~V~

The sun shone down brightly, colouring the few hedges sprung about in the vicinity golden, and as the two walked across arched stone pathways, Whi-Two found herself slightly lost in wonder.

This region seemed to consist mainly of broad French-styled houses, and a few timber ones strewn about here and there, with their immaculate gardens bordering the area, and sprigs of flowering plants hanging about windows and roofs, a new diction for urban gardening, dry wooden chairs that were propped up against the very walls to provide private sunbaths.

Lack-Two gave the very-out-of-place girl a look, not that she noticed. Though the next time she did, and actually didn't care, continuing to look around, her mouth parting open slightly to reveal her amazement only when she _knew_ he wasn't looking.

Whi-Two was abruptly brought to earth by the sound of clinking keys. Lack-Two'd stopped near the doorway of a house not much unlike the others, except it didn't really look as if it was lived in, and prodded the knocker afterwards to open it.

"Wow... You actually live here..." Whi-Two mumbled to him, only then noticing that something was weird as she suddenly and quickly reached for the pocket of her jeans, quickly taking out a papery tissue, (the kind that were sold nearby stations), because she'd apparently drooled a little when she'd somehow fallen asleep in the train car.

She kind of drooled during sleep.

The inside of the place seem just as comfy as it had been hinted by the broad exterior, and her eyes met what seemed to be a contemporary living room, with cream coloured sofa sets, hanging paintings blurred with colour, and an unused surfboard leaning discreetly against a corner, giving off a vibe that it wasn't pulled out usually from that initial space and used.

Deluxe, but in a way comfortably so.

Though Whi-Two was sure this would lead to a lot of worry since she didn't want to break anything, and the paranoia of trying to be neat might just override all sense of comfort.

This was barely like what Whi-Two had imagined, so she barely could control her awe and maybe didn't even close the door.

"Don't tell me you broke the knocker." The lone voice in the room filtered slight, if discreet, amusement, and Whi-Two just blushed in response, still unnerved, but quickly proceeding to close the door as she did so, the silvery glass smoothing back easily into place.

If only toiling mindlessly could help Whi-Two understand somewhat what she should actually be doing here, and whether she should actually have been there in the first place, she might have achieved Nirvana by now, would tick it off on her list of goals. But sadly that was not the case.

She only stopped to glance at the Inspector once she heard a door thudding open, with him, looking in presumably all circumstances, completely at ease, as he unscrewed a large condensing bottle that he'd retrieved from the fridge.

The clear-coloured liquid that she'd originally presumed to be water now lay still over a shiny marble-top, and Lack-Two made no attempt at conversation at all as he inserted his hand into a cabinet... Medications? He had his own health routine, maybe? Whi-Two recovered some poise in her shoulders, now thinking how she was going uncomfortable while he was doing this, all of this, though she barely even knew what she else she wanted because she didn't want to _wait_ either, or find out, or have some sort of conversation with the Inspector about everything that had happened and its determination on some kind of a bleak future because that was the thing she _least_ wanted right now.

Getting arrested was actually way down the list.

Whi-Two moved, an indicative that she'd finally thought of something, though she did not place herself any nearer in case she might just piss him off.

"Um..." She said for the umpteenth time, "Do you really think I can 'live' here, is that um..." The correct word to place here would be 'appropriate'. She almost gulped.

"That's just dependent on opinion." He said, before she could, and looked at her, surprising her, not with the words but rather the sudden unearned attention."

"It's not like I've done anything like kidnapped you, so take your time getting used to it..." It was strange that his eyes could soften, not often, but at least they could become less glare-y when he wanted.

Lack-Two straightened, about to head back into the more spacious stairs, when Whi-Two just found herself suddenly interrupting him.

When she spoke she was actually really quiet, as if she was muttering something discreet.

"Do you actually have something useful to say?" He muttered, his voice going eerily snappy. "I can't hear you from there."

"...Could you show me the washroom?" She reiterated embarassedly, "I uh, wanted to shower."

~V~

The hell.

"Didn't you just this morning..." Must have, standard jailing procedure, or whatever.

"Yeah well..." She pursed her lips thoughtfully, "I don't really feel comfortable working along with their system, and uh, we've been outside for..."

She looked up at him, "At least four hours, and you know, car seats aren't really supposed to be the most hygienic."

"'System'." he repeated, cocking an eyebrow.

Oh well.

He could have done without the information.

"Talk about a neatfreak," he muttered under his breathe.

"Excuse me?" She said, clearly having heard. "You know..." She breathed out a sigh.

"You don't really get to decide that."

He lifted his gaze back to her, expression almost unfathomable. "Go and rest your legs right now, we've been outside long enough, it's not like it's the end of the world."

"Well-"

"Unless," He cut her off, the word hovering unwaveringly in the air, "Actually, I was about to shower just now so unless you're one of _those_ people..." He stopped, just for the impact, and decided he'd won right then.

"So, hop quickly along like the bunny you are and sleep in a goddamn bed, unless you want me reporting nine-one-one about a pervert." He ended flatly, pressing the locked knocker of his bedroom and doing so without a second thought.

Before Whi-Two could even begin wondering fully about the things she'd just been called, the ebony door clamped loud and tight against its frame, almost deafening the girl's confused ears in the process.

It took her a few seconds to finally process what had happened, and with a series of quick and nervous headshakes and imminent mental facepalms, the girl stepped back, wondering whether she would actually _sleep_ based on orders.

She probably would.

Stepping back from that void of a system and entering another. How wonderful...

She actually knocked tentatively on one of the doors she'd met along the hallway, which was kinda stupid, seeing as there were probably not gonna be any occupants there since for the past few days it had been locked up, unless they were dead, but _old habits_ she supposed.

Quite unsurprisingly, her legs numbed and she fell on the bed almost reflexively from tiredness once she'd sighted it, fluffy blankets and pillows having met her eyes. It was all well and all getting crumpled under silken bedsheets, but... For quite a few minutes that the girl had been laid out had she been eyeing the ceiling-fan intensely, wishing very much that she wouldn't fall asleep.

On the aspect that she might have already made Lack-Two consider her as an utter crackhead, she couldn't possibly risk dozing off there and waking up the boy with screams that would possibly result from whatever latest torturous envisions her brain had schemed up for her.

She pulled over her sweater sleeves, fiddling over the only personal clothing of hers that had been left in the prison cell locker, and the one that she'd managed to get her hands upon before leaving so she could wear it over and conceal that her identity was one of an arrestee.

Whi-Two got up, brushing the hood over her eyes, only to be caught in surprise by the sight of a butterfly that had randomly swirled into the room.

It spiralled in and about the thin wisps of light coming from the semi parted curtains, flickering light, stencilled wings.

Woah.

She counted her fingers.

Almost three months from April and a day going forth, at least, since she'd last seen one. Minus four hours and thirty-five damn minutes because of the arrest proceedings.

She folded her hands, leaning back and watching, which might seem pointless but hey... a chance like that, too, could be taken away at an uncertain point.

Might as well memorise a butterfly while she still could.

The only true purpose for 'You only live once', right? Because she might just let someone manipulate her and be stupid enough to lose track of everything again.

Since it had basically taken a few words for the Inspector to order her about, and the sickly thing here was that she didn't even feel bad about it, she could've said 'no' more if she wanted, but some perverse part of hers just wouldn't let her, rather it _wanted_ to do it like he said.

And it wasn't because she wanted to be on the Inspector's good side for information or- peculiar things like _dependency_ , no, it was just Whi-Two being emotionally obtuse with her critical self when it came to Lack-Two, and for god-knew-what personal reasons...

She wanted to become friends again with him, but it wasn't like Lack- Two was going to appreciate since he most likely hated her, judging by his behaviour, and would think the useless prying bothersome.

 _Oh... you better get your shit together, Whi-Two._

She was just being paranoid, was all, paranoid because there wasn't any going back from what she'd done. She knew she needed to forget and what's past was _past_ but...

But she would really want to prove herself and renew her friendship again with the boy. Just without having something selfish in its core, for once.

Despite the sudden, uncomfortable surge of almost pelting warmth in her stomach, Whi-Two opened her eyes again, only to spot the butterfly from before disappearing out of one side of the tall windows. And she found herself immediately regretting the fact that she was left alone with prying thoughts.

Oh _shit_.

She needed to sort this out for herself as soon as she could.

~V~

"What are you doing?"

Whi-Two froze, almost inwardly beating herself up for how obvious she might have just seemed. She straightened, clearing her throat and letting go a bit of the silky blue fabric.

It turned out that the gap behind a pair of curtains was apparently not the best place to hide, which shouldn't have been a surprise, considering all things, but one should still consider the fact that Lack-Two's appearance had been absolutely sudden and desperate situations like those permitted utterly stupid desperate activities. Add to that the fact that she'd hid many times before, and with surprisingly more elaborate plans, and including the last few days this had been the first and only time she'd been caught.

"What d'you mean?" She quickly asked, turning round with what seemed to be a purely innocent expression etched across her face.

Lack-Two's annoyance flickered by so quick one might actually have thought it a good illusion, but not Whi-Two, no, who was so much familiar with that slight press of his lips, that she knew immediately. Couldn't dodge it even if she wanted.

 _Lack-Two was fecking annoyed._

"What are you doing?" He repeated, noting her eyes invert to the doorway behind them, and how that flicker of relief died immediately once she'd felt his gaze, and begun stuttering.

"...W-What do you mean?"

"I'm not the one who needs explaining," he muttered in answer, "but if only you'd used this fantastic stray-cat flexibility Whi-Two, and actually done something good and gotten out of Interpol jail, I don't think we would have to be here. And yet we are..."

"Finding excuses to disappear everytime I enter the house, simply ignoring calls that could have determined your safety while I was away, and a list of stupid things which seem too stupid to even mention," he trailed off, though his eyes were fixed at her in a way that did make her feel rather peculiar and stupid, to be honest.

"Or do you want me to elaborate?"

 _Please, no thanks_.

She laughed, nervously, shifting her gaze to the ground as if she couldn't well hear the even, faint sounds of his breathing, as if she weren't perfectly alarmed by how sinisterly close they were... "This doesn't really make much sense, Lack-Two."

"I'm sure I just made perfect sense, Levy."

Levy couldn't have thought that she would feel any more uncomfortable and ashamed than this, but then Lack-Two had just started eyeing her with almost blatant distaste, and something in her just cracked a bit inside.

It's not like she had purposely been avoiding him. Though the situation might say otherwise, Whi-Two had only too well felt like it was the other way around, whatwith Lack-Two not paying attention to her and keeping to himself and all.

Though one could argue that she shouldn't have been oversmart and evaded him when he hadn't really mentioned that she was dusturbing, and it was her fault since she carried it on without even knowing...

Oh shit.

Lack-Two leaned away, though only staying long enough to tell her quietly that it would be better if she said it straight to his face the next time she didn't feel like owing someone, even if she dared to do so, that is.

And she felt him shove roughly past her without throwing a second look.

~V~

A pair of shoes clacked fast against the stiff mount of steps that gave way to a lower staircase. Lack-Two came down to the floor looking practically ready for work, if only he hadn't been stopped by the sight of smoke drifting out from one side of the kitchen, only light wisps of air at the moment but possibly the result of a meagre mess.

His gut-instinct answered for him that Whi-Two was perfectly capable, it was almost a betting deal that she'd messed up with some appliance and caused a fire. If Lack-Two had any actual use for the kichen, he might've been worried.

But the kitchen actually looked pleasantly alright as he entered, or at least he was sure he wasn't close to encountering burnt pans or tabletops anytime soon, and the only alarm came from the smart-stove that seemed to be wheezing with the surprising load of contents.

It was all rather just a strange sight to be fair, one didn't wake up at early mornings to stir omelette-burgers if one clearly didn't need to, especially not if he were staying at a safehouse and bought takeaway when it was convenient.

Keeping his surprise to himself, Lack-Two just made his way to the mini icebox, and felt the cork of a bottle loosen underneath his fingertip as he listened to content humming, Whi-Two seemingly unaware of everything else including his presence, while tapping away at the metallic kitchen surface in between stirring some kind of sauce and humming softly.

It was only a bit later, however, when Whi-Two'd suddenly glanced at him and stiffened, continuing to stare at his presence. And only broke from her reverie once he looked back.

"... 'Morning," she greeted simply, before edging her gloved hands beside the stove, leather gloves which really did make one wonder, putting the pan away and imperceptibly peeling off the gloves after doing so.

"Is there a reason you're wearing gloves?" He asked, thinking it only reasonable to speak as he leaned slightly against a kitchen cupboard, taking small sips of the wine.

"Yeah." She answered.

"..."

"...Um... Aren't you, aren't you going to ask me anything else?" She spoke out, voice coming out slightly nasally as if she hadn't slept very well.

"What do you mean?"

"... Nothing," Whi-Two almost gulped, "Just thought you were going to ask more questions. I mean, if you were wondering..."

"No, I wasn't-" her voice interrupted his in a quick mumble, so quick that he really barely caught it, "It's an apology."

Lack-Two just glanced once at the neat array of dishes decorating a part of the counter, and caught what was going on. And Whi-Two just breathed a sigh through her lips, before looking down.

It came as a slightly surprise to him when the naturally cheery and confronting girl from a week ago just suddenly turned utterly quiet. Whi-Two, continuing to sigh at Lack-Two's lack of response, shifted herself at his gaze and spoke with an even lower voice.

"I... Uh, made breakfast for you," she muttered in a still-husky voice, cheeks ending up uncharacteristically pink with embarassment.

"...You know, yesterday, I didn't really expect you to get angry but i-it was really wrong of me to ignore you. And after all of the stuff we've been through, I guess I really don't want us to be like strangers and," she looked up, eyes reflecting barefaced timidness, "I realised that even after all the shit you had to go through for me I still haven't thanked you."

Lack-Two looked at the sweater-clad girl tense even more underneath his stare, if that was possible, and looked away whilst restraining a smile, lips still managing to curl up slightly at their corners as he did so.

"Did you? Well, that makes about as much sense as everything else you do..."

"What?" She frowned, tilting her head slightly critically in response, "...you know, no matter what you say, I'm not really a nutter." At which Lack-Two really had to heighten his concentration in stepping away from the gilded tabletop without snorting, making Whi-Two move her lips more and more in annoyance as he did so.

Yet just as he was about to walk away from the kitchen, Whi-Two gently slipped into the opening, casually blocking him from leaving.

Lack-Two raised an unimpressed eyebrow, and Whi did the same in return, before siddling against the wooden door and folding up her arms.

"Well, since I've apparently proved to you I'm a nutter," she shook her head at him, "I guess this wouldn't do as much damag-"

"Really, you should just move, Whi-Two."

"M'sorry," she answered him, not moving a single step even under the glare, "Because it's too much work worrying, and it wouldn't make any sense since I've worked too hard... so you should just accept my apology. And I won't move unless you do."

Lack-Two thought it was understandable that she was digging up a grave and didn't even know what would be inside, but if it was about showing mercy, maybe he just didn't have enough.

"Feel free to go back while I'm still letting you." He muttered, voice still laced with considerable annoyance. Whi-Two might just make him late for _work_.

If that wasn't an utter pain in the ass, Lack-Two didn't know what was.

Whi-Two didn't move, though. In fact, she just started looking at the floor with that unperturbed expression of hers, eyes blinking slowly and contemplatively as if she was thinking something through, though it probably wasn't about letting him go to work or letting herself remain unharmed. She was the kind of person who sometimes made people really curious as to what went on inside her head, especially when she did things like that.

Lack-Two smiled ruefully, succeeding in controlling his anger while being careful to lower his head exactly as much as he could without breaking the girl's dreamy unmindfulness, and then proceeding to whisper slowly into her ear something that had managed to do exactly that.

"Good luck just standing there forever, Whi-Two."

~V~

Five minutes later, Lack-Two repressed a small yawn, before blinking his lashes lazily at the brunette, who had the back of her hand pressed against her lips, trying to muffle the series of hiccups that had begun emerging little by little in the last few minutes.

"There's water in the fridge-"

"Nevermind," she coughed, pulling her oversized sleeve away. She hiccuped again, then clasped her hands against her mouth immediately, as if it was going to help repress it somehow.

Another hiccup. "Um, can I drink this?" She was pointing to the section of little bottles lying in haphazard positions above the counter, and immediately took one, looking at the contents and gently shaking the bottle back and forth with weary eyes.

"Sorry Lack-Two, but it really seems troublesome to move and let you go when there's water-" she tried resisting another hiccup, failed, and pulled the cap open, "here."

It was only when she lifted it carefully, did Lack-Two notice the bubbly spheres that had been whizzing over the surface ever since, and increasing with evert slight nod of the bottle.

Goddamnit champagne _sake_.

"Wait, Whi-Two-" But Whi-Two had already started sipping away, and a couple sips later she was remarking about the sparkling drink's oddity and how it actually just looked like 'coconut juice'... only to stop seconds later, utter realisation hitting her for another blind second and her eyes flitting to and fro from Lack-Two and the bottle as if she'd not just simply drunk alcohol, and had instead comitted a horrendous crime.

"Shouldn't it be illegal to put wine in inconspicuous bottles like these? What if..." She frowned, trying to set it down but ending up with another raw hiccup, which only led her to frown more, reverse the act and continue drinking, not having any other choice.

Lack-Two grimaced slightly at the amount she was going to end up drinking, but whatever it was, the damage had already been done, and even if she was a lightweight it wasn't likely she would get drunk off of this.

So he waited for the slight tilt, and only when Whi-Two had flinched and sat down with her wrist supporting herself against a bit of wood, most likely still not giving up, did Lack-Two kneel, snatching the bottle and putting it away, before reluctantly putting his arms around her waist and, ignoring the sursprised small cry from Whi-Two that had emerged with this, and proceeding to literally carry her above his shoulder.

"What are you doing?! You shouldn't just pick up and throw people around like that!" Ignoring all of the protest and muttered threats of her wanting to really sue him, he went on to release her, quite abruptly, over a small table, an action which made Whi-Two land very hard over the rough surface and with a resounding thud. Somehow the table had shuddered unusually forcefully, though Whi-Two had been too numb and too busy finding some sort of support to notice.

Whi-Two glared at him, though it was no sooner aimed at the Inspector's back as he'd already just begun preparing to leave.

 _Rest in peace, tailbone_. _She thought, sighing slightly inside._

 **The end of the chappy-thingy~**

 **A/N: Hello loves I need some real help with adoption papers :') I can't take it anymore so I'm adopting these two twelve year ol's as soon as I can**

 **Also tysm for the detailed reviews and favourites I can't even tell you how happy I am (hearts) Y'all should be angry at the late updates but still keep supporting me and ohmygod your reviews were real blessings, thank you~**

 **Good day~**


End file.
